ST. JOHN DAMASCENE, ADVENT, AND THE 49TH ANNIVERSARY OF "SANCROSANCTUM CONCILIUM"............

On this 1st Tuesday of Advent, I settle into preparing to be the R.C.I.A. presenter tonight at 6:30 p.m., in the Sacred Heart Parish O'Hara Hall, on the Sacraments of the Anointing of the Sick and Holy Orders.  We will also continue our discussion of the significance and celebration of this liturgical season of Waiting for the Lord Jesus' three-fold Coming.  The saint liturgically celebrated today is John of Damascus, the last of the Greek / Eastern Fathers from the latter 7th to mid 8th Century of Christianity; a Priest and Doctor of the Church, who was both a poet and a staunch defender of sacred images and icons.  In the Advent spirit of awaiting the arrival of the World's Savior on this third day of Liturgical Year 2013, we also commemorate the 49th anniversary of the promulgation of the first of the 16 Documents of the Second Vatican Council, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, "Sancrosanctum Concilium".  One year later, on the First Sunday of Advent 1964, it led to the renewal and reform of Catholic-Christian public worship i ways we continue to celebrate it.  Plenty to ponder and to spiritually invest ourselves in today,  as the journey of watching and waiting we have taken anew in these December days unfold............Fr.  Troy